Short Summary

Pakistan celebrated the 27th anniversary of its independence on Wednesday (14 August).

Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali?

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Pakistan celebrated the 27th anniversary of its independence on Wednesday (14 August).

Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto marked the occasion by laying the foundation stone of the nation's first permanent Parliamentary building at Islamabad, the capital.

The day was also the first anniversary of Pakistan's permanent constitution.

Prime Minister Bhutto used the ceremony to announce the restoration of the right of citizens to apply to courts for enforcement of fundamental rights.

He said that although the proclamation of an emergency, made in 1971 before the India-Pakistan war was still in force, his government felt the time had come to make "a move further towards realisation of norms laid down under the constitution".

The foundation stone ceremony was attended by diplomats from more than 60 countries. The Opposition in both houses of Parliament, however, boycotted the ceremony. They said the President and not the Prime Minister should lay the foundation stone.

SYNOPSIS: Pakistan's Prime Minister Bhutto has restored the rights of citizens to apply to courts for the enforcement of safeguards from arrest and detention.

He made the announcement on Wednesday the twenty-seventh anniversary of Pakistan's independence, laying a foundation stone for the country's first permanent Parliament building. The ceremony also coincided with the first anniversary of Pakistan's permanent constitution. It was held in Islamabad, the capital.

Diplomats from sixty countries were present as Mr. Bhutto studied a model of the new Parliament building with Mrs. Bhutto. But Government opposition members were notably absent. They boycotted the ceremony, saying the President, not the Prime Minister, should lay the foundation stone for the building.